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Committee hears bill to give physician assistants a voting seat on Montana Board of Medical Examiners
Summary
Rep. Jodie Etchart told the House Business and Labor Committee that House Bill 199 would reduce physician membership on the Board of Medical Examiners from five to four and raise physician assistant representation from one (nonvoting) to two (voting). Proponents said the change would better reflect PA practice in Montana.
Representative Jodie Etchart, sponsor of House Bill 199, told the House Business and Labor Committee she seeks to change the Board of Medical Examiners’ composition by replacing one physician seat with a voting physician assistant seat.
Etchart said the change would “align more with physician assistant independent practice,” referencing House Bill 313 from the 2023 session and the expanding role of PAs in Montana. She described the current board makeup and noted the existing PA is a nonvoting liaison.
Proponent testimony came from Jennifer Hensley of the Montana Academy of Physician Assistants, who told the committee that “physician assistants as licensed in Montana are exceedingly active. They’re serving many of the underserved areas in Montana.” Hensley and other proponents said PAs regularly handle complaints, applications and rulemaking issues that the board addresses and that a voting PA would provide perspective on those matters.
Committee members asked for basic workforce numbers during testimony. Etchart supplied figures she said were current: 11,476 MDs and DOs, 1,457 physician assistants, 702 podiatrists and other licensed clinicians. Kevin Bragg, bureau chief for professional licensing at the Department of Labor and Industry, attended as an informational witness to answer administrative questions.
No opponents appeared in the hearing. The sponsor and proponents said the change would not alter the board’s total membership and would avoid a fiscal note because it shifts an existing professional seat rather than adding members. The committee closed the hearing without taking a final vote on the bill.
The committee scheduled an actuary to appear on a separate unemployment-insurance item noted earlier in the meeting; that scheduling did not affect HB 199’s hearing schedule. The bill remains at the hearing stage pending committee action.
